Emperor (final boss)
The dark half of Emperor Mateus, also known as the Emperor of Hell, is the final boss of Final Fantasy II. He is found on his throne at the top level of Castle Pandaemonium. Defeating the Emperor completes the game. He is simply known as Emperor in battle; in the [[Final Fantasy II#Unreleased English version|prototype Dark Shadow over Palakia]], he is named Empire. Stats Battle The Emperor is powerful and attacks relentlessly, similar to the Light Emperor. His physical attacks bear the same drain effect that Astaroth had, meaning every hit he lands will replenish his HP supply. He will attempt to inflict a handful of status effects on the party to hamper their attack, including Blind, Slow and Curse. His offensive magic arsenal includes the powerful Flare XVI and Starfall X, which hits the whole party. The Emperor resists all elemental attack magic and absorbs all status elements. Strategy It is advised to emphasize Evasion rather than raw Defense as the Emperor's extremely high attack power and number of hits can inflict major damage even to a character fully equipped in Genji equipment, causing him to regain large amounts of HP. All party members should be equipped with shields and preferably light armor. For the same reason, Blink is preferred to Protect. Berserk and Haste are important to cast on attackers to increase their damage output. The status effects the Emperor inflicts should be dealt with quickly, especially Curse, as its Defense drop can leave a character easily slain. Mages should use Holy, Flare, or Ultima to attack. The Blood Sword is famously effective against the Emperor. Its life-draining damage formula means that hit will drain at least 1/16th of the Emperor's HP, dealing more damage than most weapons are capable of. The Ancient Sword is also useful, as its Curse effect bypasses the Emperor's status protection and weakens his attacks and defenses. As to why the Blood Sword strategy is as effective as it is, this may be an after-effect of an overflow bug that was never patched. The Emperor also does not have the Undead flag set that would have negated the Blood Sword. One particular strategy is to move all but one character with a high Evasion to the back row before casting Blink on the front-row character. The party can use Osmose until the Emperor's MP is drained, leaving him unable to use his spells. If the front-row character's Evasion is high enough, they will be able to avoid all or almost all of the Emperor's hits, allowing the party to whittle away the Emperor's HP. Other appearances Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call Emperor appears as an enemy in Battle Music Sequences. His design derives from the Famicom version. Pictlogica Final Fantasy Final Fantasy All the Bravest The Emperor is fought in Palamecia Desert. He uses Knock Silly and Starfall and drops a Golden Spear. His design derives from the Famicom version. ''Final Fantasy Brave Exvius The Emperor of Hell appears in game as part of the Series Boss Battles, representing ''Final Fantasy II. The Emperor's arsenal of attacks almost exclusively Fire attacks, most of which are not used in his original incarnation. His drain attack is also replaced by his human counterpart's Elixir supply. Final Fantasy Trading Card Game The Emperor appears with an Ice-elemental card. His design derives from the Famicom version. Trivia * In the original Famicom version, the Emperor has a unique targeting byte for the final boss battle. This results in a bug when using the Wizard Staff as an item to cast Scourge XVI. The spell will target one random enemy or ally, but it does not exclude the Emperor's unique targeting byte, potentially causing the spell to target the Emperor despite him not being present (resulting in no effect). * In the Famicom version, this is the only final boss of the series where the characters do a victory pose after winning. This is changed in the remakes. * In the cutscene preceding the battle with the Light Emperor, where Minwu, Scott, Ricard, and Josef experience a vision of the battle, Firion used the Masamune on the Emperor, with Maria following up with Holy Lv. 16; the Emperor retaliating by casting Flare XVI on Maria; Guy using an Elixir on himself, Leon attempting to strike the Emperor down with Excalibur and the Sun Blade, but missed him, and Guy and Maria following up with the Rune Axe and Yoichi's Bow, respectively; Leon casting Cure Lv. 16 to the party; the Emperor casting Starfall X, and Firion casting Ultima Lv. 16 on the Emperor in return. *In the GBA and PS versions, the Emperor's battle sprite possesses a lower half and torso, while in all other appearances he lacks those attributes. Gallery FFII Starfall10 PS.png|Starfall X in the Origins version. FFII Starfall10 GBA.png|Starfall X in the Advance version. FFII Blind XVI.png|Blind XVI in the PSP version. FFII Curse XVI.png|Curse XVI in the PSP version. FFII Flare XVI.png|Flare XVI in the PSP version. FFII Slow XVI.png|Slow XVI in the PSP version. Related enemies * Emperor (#85) * Emperor (Soul of Rebirth) it:Imperatore (boss finale) Category:Bosses in Final Fantasy II Category:Final bosses